Month: January 2015

Juicing….can’t leave the house without hearing or reading about someone doing it. It’s become the Beverly Hills Diet of 2015, so hip and trendy. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution and Man’s obsession with weight loss, diets have plagued us. Juicing is just the latest diet craze.

I understand the psychological need to rid oneself of toxins, but the body does a terrific job of that all on its own. Don’t underestimate our own ability to wash away the “bad” stuff once we stick to eating and living healthy; it’s amazing what our own Self can do!

Some people get in the bad state of mind thinking that if a weight loss system works fast, it must be good. Sure, you’ll lose weight fast juicing, but people lost weight quickly using Slim Fast years ago too. And then they gained it gained just as fast, adding on a few extra pounds. Juicing is just another binge diet. Supporters can add on all the buzz words they want…. cleansing, anti-inflammatory, organic, add in any others you wish, but in the end, what’s happening is they’re limiting caloric intake and will lose weight.

Juice, be it from fruit or vegetables doesn’t fill me up. Whole foods fill me up. And if I’m going to have liquid food, I’ll take a blended smoothie; I like getting my fiber along with my foods.

My leg has felt terrific this week. I invested in a stronger brace and have been doing leg curls which have really helped with my IT Band. My run last night felt great.

Some days and sometimes weeks, are harder than others. 2015 has started out with some rough edges. I’m still having problems with my right leg, and certain things in my personal life have not been going the way I wish them to go.

In fact, if I run for too long, or too many times a week, my leg was becoming quite painful. I know the smart thing to do would be to stop running altogether, but maybe I’m not that smart. So, I’ve slowed down, decreased my mileage and got a better knee brace. All of which have helped.

This morning was the Vint free training meet-up. Vint is sponsoring training runs for a 10K, Half Marathon, or Marathon. It’s a nice way to be in a group of like-minded runners and get some advice and help and maybe see if Vint would be good to sign up for more personal instruction.

It was cold when I headed out. I was nervous and hesitant. I wanted to run strong and be a good leader and instructor. I didn’t want to have problems or not be able to do what I promised to do.

Much to my relief and happiness, everything went well. I ran with the 10K group and stayed with the slowest runner, promising to stick with whoever was in the back. It was a great run. The runner I ran the 2.5 miles with said he had always felt uncomfortable running because he didn’t know how to pace himself and always felt tired so quickly. He had been working out to the Insanity program, so his lungs and legs were strong. We ran slowly; 5 minutes at a time with a 1 minute walk in between. We did 6 sets of these, which was the perfect amount for the first time out.

After the run, everyone participating had a great time and we all enjoyed water and Clif Blocks. Since we were near the Ferry Building, some of us headed to Blue Bottle for delicious coffee.

It’s a big thing now for running and fitness groups to set up challenges, especially at the start of the new year. It’s been a growing trend. A lot of people love these. I’ve joined a few myself in the past. They were fun, because I was able to help set up the guidelines and rules about the challenges.

But the new ones I’m seeing are more and more extreme. “Run 2015 miles in 2015” “Run 100 miles a month!” “Run 3 miles or Walk 3 miles or bike 3 miles every day!”..and more.

I understand that there are very good intentions behind these challenges. We all want to get in better shape and feel better. But, not everyone can do what everyone else can do. We all achieve our goals at different paces. And each of us have different levels of goals. There is no One Size Fits All. And these unfortunately make it seem as if everyone should do the same thing.

Add to that the appearance of competition and people feel badly if they’re not doing as much as someone else. I don’t mean to sound so politically correct, but running shouldn’t be keeping up with the Jones’, it should be a sport where one challenges oneself, not a group of other people.

I haven’t even mentioned the whole Rest Day. Many people who dive head first into these challenges don’t like rest days and don’t take them. It’s not a surprise that injuries happen. A runner’s rest day is JUST AS IMPORTANT as a running day. I truly wish runners wouldn’t look at a rest day with dismay. Enjoy your rest day. Indulge if you like, but realize that without a rest day, no muscle growth, and your chance of injury multiplies.

There are those runners who are “Streak Runners” – meaning they run without taking breaks in between. It’s not something I would ever do, or even think it’s a good thing to do, but a few people are okay doing that, the rest of us are more likely to get hurt, fatigued or sick. It’s better to slow down, take a day or two off and enjoy giving your body the rest it deserves.

And if you send me a request for yet another challenge, please don’t take it personally if I say “No thank you.”